Machine for forming and inserting paper wadding in containers



June 23, 1964 E. E. LAKSO MACHINE FOR FORMING AND INSERTING PAPER WADDING IN CONTAINERS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 4, 1962 INVENTOR EINQ ELAKSO f'm ffl ATTORNEY June 23, 1964 E. E. LAKSO MACHINE FOR FORMING AND INSERTING PAPER WADDING IN CONTAINERS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 4, 1962 INVENTOR EINO E. LAKSO ATTORNEY June 23, 1964 E. E. LAKSO 3,137,979

MACHINE FOR FORMING AND INSERTING PAPER WADDING IN CONTAINERS Filed April 4, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 EINO E. LAKSO y/flwf ATTORNEY United States Patent '0 3,137,979 MACHINE FOR FORMING AND INSER'IING PAPER WADDING IN CONTAINERS Eino E. Lakso, Fitchburg, Mass., assignor to The Lakso Company, Inc., Fitchburg, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Apr. 4, 1962, Ser. No. 185,498 14 Claims. (Cl. 53-115) This invention relates to a new and improved machine for forming paper wadding from sheet material and inserting the formed paper Wad into the neck of a filled container in such a manner as to cause the wadding to impinge upon the contents of the container without damage thereto and hold the contents substantially immovable during transportation, etc., so as to prevent shifting. Particularly in the pharmaceutical industry but not limited to such use, it has long been the custom to wad containers with cotton, the cotton being intended to prevent shifting of the tablets during storage and transfer, etc. There are many advantages in the use of crumpled paper wadding instead of cotton and reference is made to my copending patent application Serial No. 39,963 filed June 30, 1960 now Patent 3,066,460 dated December 4, 1962 which describes the advantages of using paper sheet stock or other kinds of sheet material for the intended purpose.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of means for supplying sheets of material to a turret in which the sheet of material is folded in a forming tube by a reciprocating mandrel forming a tube-like member of folded paper having a closed end formed by the forward end of the mandrel, the folds of the paper extending down along the mandrel more or less in conformance therewith, thus providing the paper tube with an open end including edges and corners of the sheet; together with means for rotating the turret in intermittent steps, the paper tube being held in and of itself in its forming tube so that it is stored therein until it is indexed to the wadding position over a bottle or container of small objects, whereupon the folded paper tube is expelled from the forming tube, down into the neck of the container so that the edges of the sheet material are lightly pressed onto the contents of the container, tending to hold the same in position.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of a combination of a turret device for forming the paper wads as above described with means for cutting sheets of paper-like material from an advancing web and including a substantially simultaneous operation between the folding means and the cut-off means so that just as the sheet is separated from the advancing web, it is thrust by a mandrel into the forming tube; and the provision of means for adjusting the severing means and the drive means therefor to vary the size of the sheet severed and also at the same time to vary the speed of operation of the feeding means for the web to conform thereto, including means for operating the severing means at the required interval.

The invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly set forth in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation showing the general setup of the machine, parts being omitted for clarity of illustration;

FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof with parts in section, looking in the direction of arrow 2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section through the machine, parts being omitted for clarity of illustration;

FIG. 4 is a plan view partly in section, taken on the "ice , omitted;

FIG. 6 is a view looking in the direction of arrow 6v of FIG. 5, parts being in section and parts being omitted for clarity;

FIG. 7 is a view in side elevation with parts in section showing a modification, and

FIG. 8 is a bottom plan view, looking in the direction of arrow 8 in FIG. 7.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the machine in general may be set on any base or framework desired as indicated by the reference numeral 10. A main driving motor 12 is provided and this motor by means of a chain or belt 14 drives the main drive shaft 16. These parts may all be contained in appropriate housings such as at 18 and this housing can be utilized to support the turret which is indicated generally at 20. As shown, the turret has four stations and is driven intermittently so as to position these stations one at a time over a container C which can be traveled on a conveyor on a support at 22 or the container may be placed in posi tion by hand if desired. At 180 opposite the wadding station at C, there is provided a mandrel 24 which has a vertical reciprocatory motion to cooperate with a formtube 26 of which there are four, one at each station of the turret. The mandrel 24 operates simultaneously with severing means which cuts a sheet 28 at 30 and simultaneously impinges upon it centrally thereof, thrusting it up into the forming tube 26 (FIG. 3).

The web of the paper or similar material which is indicated at 32 is driven in the appropriate direction by means of drive rolls 34 which may derive their power from the main drive shaft as will be explained hereinafter. This web is derived from a roll 36 appropriately mounted on an adjustable pedestal 38 in any desired manner and having a take-up member 40 in order to keep the web reasonably taut and properly feeding in: the direction of the arrows in FIG. 3 and the arrow 42 in FIG. 1.

Generally centrally of the turret 20 there is. a, vertically reciprocating member 44 which carries an offset wadding implement or plunger 46. The forming tubes 26 are tubular and are open from end-to-end thereof and the plunger 46 in descending expels the folded paper wad downwardly out of the tube and into' the container C.

The various parts of the machine are driven from the main shaft 16 and looking at FIGS. 3 and 4 it will be seen that there are a series of cams mounted on this shaft. One of these cams indicated at 50 is a cross-over cam, i.e., it is in spiral form, and it has a channeled edge as seen in FIG. 4 which engages a series of rollers 52. mounted on vertical axes on a rotary indexing gear 54 so as to turn the latter at a greatly reduced speed .of rotation. In turn the indexing gear meshes with turret gear 57 which is fixed to the hollow sleeve 84 rotating turret 20 in step by step relation. Tubular forming members 26 are thus intermittently driven between each step and then stopped at the proper locations.

The main shaft 16 also carries a pair of cams 59 and 60, one of which is provided with a cam follower at 62 mounted on a lever 64 pivoted at 66 and mounting at its opposite end a link 68 vertically reciprocating member 44 which is appropriately provided with slide bearings, etc. as shown in FIG. 3.

The cam 6%) acts on a cam follower or roll 70 mounted on a yoke 72 and having its opposite end connected to a lever 74. The lever 74 is pivotally connected as at 76 with a vertically reciprocal rod 73 attached at 80 to the folding mandrel 24 which reciprocates vertically and in timed relation with respect to the plunger 46.

The turret 20 and sleeve 84 are mounted on appropriate bearings as are indicated at 82. There is a fixed inverted funnel 86 having an aperture in line with the folding mandrel 24. As each fold-forming tube comes to rest over the funnel 86, the mandrel 24 rises to engage the sheet 28 centrally to stulf and fold it in the forming tube. The mandrel 24 then retracts and the turret is indexed 90 to a position where a previously folded paper wad two stations in advance is over the container C in position to be expelled from its tube 26 and wadded in the container by the descent of plunger 46.

The severing mechanism for the web comprises a movable shearing blade 88 cooperating with a fixed blade 96 to shear a sheet 28 from the forward end of the web as indicated at 85 in FIG. 2. The blade 88 is pivoted to a frame part of the machine at 92 adjacent an end thereof and is reeiprocated vertically by a rod 94 (FIG. The rod 94 is mounted at its lower end on a pivot 96 on one arm of a bell crank generally indicated at 8 and pivoted conveniently as at 106) (FIG. 6). The bell crank is provided with a cam roll 102 which generally bears on a cam 104 which can be mounted on the main shaft 16. The other arm of the bell crank is held in a clockwise direction by a spring 106 so that the cam roll 192 is held against the periphery of the cam 104 and the cam 164 has a notch 108 which allows the spring 1% to momentarily depress the rod 94 to very rapidly shear the sheet.

The driving rollers 34 of the web are mounted on a movable frame 110, this frame being mounted to slide fore-and-aft on a tube 112 and a square rod 114 and the shear above described is also mounted on this frame 110, the rod 94 being capable of sufficient movement in a fore-and-aft direction to allow for the motion of the feed rolls 34 to provide an adjustment limited by the lugs 116 relative to a bearing block 118 (FIG. 3).

The rolls 34 are driven by means of a pulley 123 this pulley being provided with rubber bearing surfaces 122 (see FIG. 2) bearing on and driven frictionally by an adjustable split pulley generally indicated at 124. The tube at 112 contains a spring 126 which is anchored at one end at 128 and secured at its opposite end to the movable frame 110, thus maintaining driving frictional contact between pulley 120 and the separate parts of the adjustable pulley, thus continuously driving the feed rolls.

When it is desired to adjust the size of the sheet, this entire bracket 110 including the shearing cutter is adjusted by moving the movable pulley part 130 relative to fixed part 132 so as to allow the shaft or pulley 129 to approach closer to the shaft of the adjustable pulley, the latter being driven from the main shaft as for instance by means of a sprocket or pulley 134 or the like. This varies the feed of the paper web as well as the positioning of the shear blade so that but a single adjustment is required in order to vary the size of the sheet.

In FIG. 4 the reference numerals 136 and 138 represent more or less conventional stopping means for the containers and these are operated by cams as for instance 140, 142 in a well known manner to stop the container in proper position for the wadding operation.

The paper being fed by rollers 34 is intermittently severed by the shear 88 and simultaneously with the cutting action of the shear 88 the folding mandrel 24 rises, striking the sheet substantially in the center thereof and forcing the center part of the sheet forwardly with the edges of the sheet trailing into the forming tube 26 through funnel 86. At the same time, the plunger 46 pushes the paper wad already so folded downwardly from the forming tube which is at 180 to that being operated upon by the mandrel 24. The paper wad goes into the container C, projecting the edges of the sheet forwardmost onto and in contact with the contents of the container. In the meantime, the forming tube 26 between the forming station and the wedding station stores the pre-folded paper wadding member, whereas the forming tube at 180 to the storage tube is empty and is the next one to be provided with the paper wad by mandrel 24 as above explained.

It is possible by conventional means to interrupt the feed of the rollers at the instant of cut by the shear but this forms no part of the present invention and as a matter of fact the shear operates satisfactorily without such interruption to the feed.

Referring now to FIG. 7, there is shown a modification of the present invention which is hand operated rather than power operated and while not as rapid in operation forms an extremely inexpensive form of the invention. There is a table mounted in any suitable manner. On this table there is a bracket 152 upon which is mounted a forming tube 154 provided with the inverted funnel 156 at the lower end thereof. There is a wadding plunger 158 normally held upwardly in the position shown in FIG. 7 by a spring or the like 160. This wadding plunger may be merely depressed manually against the action of the spring or may be provided with means such as a lever 162 mounted on a bracket 164 so that the plunger 158 is easily brought down to provide the paper wadding in a container under tube 154 and located on the table.

Below the bench there is a forming mandrel 165 which is adapted to extend through a hole 166 in the bench axially in line with the forming tube 154. This mandrel is arranged to be foot operated in any desired way as by a foot treadle 168 and linkage 170.

In this case, the operator merely takes a sheet of paper and applies it to the wide end of the funnel, stepping on the treadle to cause the forming mandrel 165 to rise into the tube 154 and fold the paper as before, whereupon the mandrel is allowed to descend to the position shown. A container is then placed on the table at the location of the hole 166, and the operator lowers the plunger 158 to cause the folded wad to be expelled from the forming tube 154 into the neck of the container which is then removed.

In both forms of the invention the inverted funnel is preferably provided with some kind of arrangement for holding the paper against falling, and this can take the form of a rake having teeth which extend in any way desired and mounted as desired as for instance see FIG. 7 where spaced wire teeth at 172 will form a holding means for the paper sheet. The same teeth can be applied to the power operated device also, the teeth of the comb being more or less fixed but resilient and spaced so as to avoid the folding mandrel as shown in FIG. 8.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. Apparatus for wadding necked containers comprising a machine frame, a rotary turret thereon, a main drive shaft, means on the shaft to rotate the turret intermittently from station to station and to cause the turret to dwell between steps of rotation, a series of spaced tubes on the turret offset from the axis thereof and rotating with the turret, there being a forming tube at each station at each dwell, the tubes being open at both ends, a source of supply for sheets of foldable material adjacent one station, means to provide a sheet at each dwell at said one station in a position at one end of the respective tube and located transversely thereof, a reciprocating mandrel at said one station in position to engage the positioned sheet and force it into the tube compacting it into an elongated tubular wad embracing the mandrel and having an open end, means to reciprocate the mandrel at each dwell into and fully out of the tube leaving the wad therein, means at another station to position a container with an open neck adjacent the said one end of the forming tube to receive the tubular wad open and foremost, a reeiprocatory plunger located at the said other station to enter the forming tube at its opposite end and expel the tubular wad open and foremost into the neck of the container, and means to reciprocate the plunger into and fully out or" the respective forming tube.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 including means to sever a sheet from a web in timed relation to the reciprocation of the mandrel.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 including means to hold a roll of sheet material, means to feed the sheet material to the positioning means, means to sever the sheet material as the mandrel engages it to force it into the tube.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 including web feeding means and severing means to form sheets, and means to vary the feeding speed and severing position to vary the size of sheet severed.

5. Apparatus for applying folded and compacted tubular sheet material wadding to containers for loose articles comprising a source of sheets, a generally vertical forming tube, said tube being open at both ends, means to hold a sheet at the lower end of the tube, a support below the tube, a vertically reciprocal mandrel in the support in position to enter the tube, means to move the mandrel to engage the sheet and force it into the tube, the mandrel being removable from the tube, a plunger arranged to enter the tube from the upper end thereof, and to expel the compacted wad completely from the tube through the lower end thereof.

6. Apparatus for applying folded and compacted tubular sheet material wadding to containers for loose articles comprising a source of sheets, a generally vertical forming tube, said tube being open at both ends, means to hold a sheet at the lower end of the tube, a support below the tube, a vertically reciprocal mandrel in the support in position to enter the tube, means to move the mandrel to engage the sheet and force it into the tube, the mandrel being removable from the tube, a plunger arranged to enter the tube from the upper end thereof, and to expel the compacted wad completely from the tube through the lower end thereof, said support forming a positioning means for a container under the tube, said plunger causing the compacted wad to enter the container and to be crumpled therein against the contents thereof.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 including means to cause the plunger to enter the tube, said plunger having a lower end passing through the tube, and means to cause the plunger to rise in the tube to receive a succeeding sheet.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 including manual means to actuate the mandrel and plunger.

9. A machine for wadding containers with sheet material comprising a base, a rotary turret on said base, a series of forming tubes arranged on the turret, said tubes being open from end to end and being parallel to the axis of the turret, means to rotate the turret intermittently, feed means providing a supply of sheet material a sheet at a time to said turret and adjacent one end of a forming tube, a forming mandrel, means to reciprocate said mandrel in a predetermined path parallel to the turret axis to enter the forming tube adjacent to which the sheet is located, the forming mandrel engaging the sheet generally centrally thereof and pushing the sheet up into the forming tube with the edges of the sheet trailing, a wadding plunger having a reciprocatory motion parallel to that of the mandrel, means actuating the plunger to enter a respective forming tube from the opposite end that the mandrel enters, and expressing the sheet folded by the mandrel in the tube into a container, the wadding plunger engaging the said central folded portion of the sheet as it is located in the forming tube and expelling the folded sheet with its edge portions foremost into the container.

10. The machine of claim 9 including a supply web, means for severing sheets from the supply web, said severing means operating simultaneously with the motion of the forming and folding mandrel so that the mandrel engages the sheet simultaneously with the severance thereof from the web.

11. The machine of claim 9 including a supply web, means for severing sheets from the supply web, said severing means operating simultaneously with the motion of the forming and folding mandrel so that the mandrel engages the sheet simultaneously with the severance thereof from the web, including web feed means, the feed means and the sheet severing means being mounted as a unit for adjustment in a-direction along the web to and from the forming mandrel to vary the size of the sheet to be formed in the forming tubes.

12. The machine of claim 9 including a supply web, means for severing sheets from the supply web, said severing means operating simultaneously with the motion of the forming and folding mandrel so that the mandrel engages the sheet simultaneously with the severance thereof from the web, including web feed means, the feed means and the sheet severing means being mounted as a unit for adjustment in a direction along the web to and from the forming mandrel to vary the size of the sheet to be formed in the forming tubes, and means to drive the feed means at different rates of the speed depending upon said adjustment.

13. The machine of claim 9 including a supply Web, means for severing sheets from the supply web, said severing means operating simultaneously with the motion of the forming and folding mandrel so that the mandrel engages the sheet simultaneously with the severance thereof from the Web, including web feed means, the feed means and the sheet severing means being mounted as a unit for adjustment in a direction along the web to and from the forming mandrel to vary the size of the sheet to be formed in the forming tubes, and means to drive the feed means at different rates of speed depending upon said adjustment, and comprising an adjustable pulley, a drive wheel frictionally engaged with said adjustable pulley, said drive wheel driving the feed means, said friction pulley engaging the adjustable pulley at varying points radially thereof for varying the speed as the feed means is moved to and from the forming mandrel.

14. A machine for wadding containers with sheet material comprising a base, a rotary turret on said base, a series of upright forming tubes arranged on the turret about the periphery thereof, said tubes being open end to end and being parallel to the axis of rotation of the turret, means to rotate the turret intermittently, means providing a supply of sheet material one sheet at a time in a direction generally radially with respect to said turret, means to hold a sheet in position under a tube, a forming mandrel, means to reciprocate said mandrel in a predetermined time interval to the turret to impinge on the sheet and cause it to be folded in the forming tube located above the sheet, a wadding plunger rotationally spaced from the forming mandrel and having a reciprocatory motion, means to provide the same with a reciprocatory motion parallel to the path of the forming mandrel, said wadding plunger entering a respective forming tube from the opposite end thereof with relation to the mandrel and expressing the folded sheet material into a container, the forming mandrel engaging the sheet generally centrally thereof and pushing the sheet up into the forming tube with the edges of the sheet trailing, the wadding plunger engaging the said central folded end portion of the sheet as it is located in the forming tube and expelling the folded sheet with its edge portions foremost into the container.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,229,286 Gellman Jan. 21, 1941 2,817,934 Dimond Dec. 31, 1957 2,895,269 Lakso July 21, 1959 2,895,273 Lakso July 21, 1959 3,066,460 Lakso Dec. 4, 1962 

1. APPARATUS FOR WADDING NECKED CONTAINERS COMPRISING A MACHINE FRAME, A ROTARY TURRET THEREON, A MAIN DRIVE SHAFT, MEANS ON THE SHAFT TO ROTATE THE TURRET INTERMITTENTLY FROM STATION TO STATION AND TO CAUSE THE TURRET TO DWELL BETWEEN STEPS OF ROTATION, A SERIES OF SPACED TUBES ON THE TURRET OFFSET FROM THE AXIS THEREOF AND ROTATING WITH THE TURRET, THERE BEING A FORMING TUBE AT EACH STATION AT EACH DWELL, THE TUBES BEING OPEN AT BOTH ENDS, A SOURCE OF SUPPLY FOR SHEETS OF FOLDABLE MATERIAL ADJACENT ONE STATION, MEANS TO PROVIDE A SHEET AT EACH DWELL AT SAID ONE STATION IN A POSITION AT ONE END OF THE RESPECTIVE TUBE AND LOCATED TRANSVERSELY THEREOF, A RECIPROCATING MANDREL AT SAID ONE STATION IN POSITION TO ENGAGE THE POSITIONED SHEET AND FORCE IT INTO THE TUBE COMPACTING IT INTO AN ELONGATED TUBULAR WAD EMBRACING THE MANDREL AND HAVING AN OPEN END, MEANS TO RECIPROCATE THE MANDREL AT EACH DWELL INTO AND FULLY OUT OF THE TUBE LEAVING THE WAD THEREIN, MEANS AT ANOTHER STATION TO POSITION A CONTAINER WITH AN OPEN NECK ADJACENT THE SAID ONE END OF THE FORMING TUBE TO RECEIVE THE TUBULAR WAD OPEN AND FOREMOST, A RECIPROCATORY PLUNGER LOCATED AT THE SAID OTHER STATION TO ENTER THE FORMING TUBE AT ITS OPPOSITE END AND EXPEL THE TUBULAR WAD OPEN AND FOREMOST INTO THE NECK OF THE CONTAINER, AND MEANS TO RECIPROCATE THE PLUNGER INTO AND FULLY OUT OF THE RESPECTIVE FORMING TUBE. 